Fuyō Na Tabi
by Pandora's Maknae
Summary: Edward Elric finds himself dragged into another world while he was celebrating the defeat of the Humonculi. This world is full of strange creatures called Pokemon, but he is determined to find a way home, and his little brother.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so I've had this idea for awhile, and I've also had it typed up to this point on my computer. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to post it or not, or if I should just keep it to myself. Well my decision seems pretty obvious =P. This takes place after everything in the FMA manga (even though we still don't know the ending) and in no particular time line in the Pokemon world.

I'm going to warn you now about Ed's mouth, if you don't like swearing of any kind I wouldn't read this. Plus I also like doing descriptive fight scenes, so if you don't like those either then seriously this fic isn't for you. I'm pretty sure that is it, well that's all I can remember at the moment anyways. Oh, and beware of my terrible updating habits!

Disclaimer: I don't FMA or Pokemon.

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About three months had passed since the incident with the homunculi, and no one ever got a chance to celebrate it properly since the country was still in confusion. Once everything calmed down in Central, Mustang suggested that they went on a well deserved vacation, no one disagreed, not even Hawkeye. So they gathered everybody together which included Mustang's crew, the Elric brothers, who recently regained their bodies, Winry, the Hughes, Ling, Mei, and Ran-Fan to go stay on the beach for a week out in Xing, well out of the way of the still healing country. Today the went out boating in the middle of the ocean, the military men were sitting in the front of the boat drinking their senses away, while the women were lounging out on the benches, suntanning. Elysia was running around on the deck playing with a beach ball, and wearing many different types of floats, Hughes was too paranoid to let her swim in the ocean where all the other teens were hanging out at, unknowingly to the others.

Ed was put into a headlock by Ling when he heard the loud rumble of an engine warming up. The group that was out in the water looked towards the boat and watching in utter disbelief as it raced off. They were shaken out of their stupor when a spray of water from the motor slammed into them. All they were able to manage out was a very intelligent grunt.

"Huh?" Ed stared wide eye at the retreating figure, sudden sinking feeling settled into his gut. This definitely wasn't good.

"What the hell just happened?" Ling yelled to nobody in particular, and they all turned towards him.

"Well," Ed started slowly as if he were talking to a two year old "They just drove off with the boat, dumb ass." Ling sent him a nasty look, but decided against saying anything. The others stayed quiet as well, before Winry flung her arms up into the air and screeched.

"Well someone do _something!_"

Mei decided on joining in on Winry's screeching, and Ed started to feel his patience level drop at the amount of chaos around him.

"What do we do?!" Mei rounded on Ed and Al and continued to screech "You two are alchemist's! Do something!"

Ed twitched "You're an alchemist too, Mei, you know that's not how it works," He managed to ground out through his clenched teeth "The best I can do right now is freeze the water, but that wouldn't be a good idea, because we would be at risk for hypothermia then." Al nodded, but considering their current options he might have to do that later.

"Well, I don't think we have to worry too much, guys." Al spoke up trying to placify everybody "They'll notice that we aren't on the boat, right?" Ed frowned and Al noticed it "Right?"

"They aren't coming back are they?" Mei whimpered and Ed paled slightly at the thought. What if they didn't notice, which would be impossible, Ed told himself as his method to reassure himself, what would happen to them? He did not have plans on getting his brother's body back, along with his limbs, just for them to become fish food, or human popsicle.

"I'm hungry." Speaking of food, of course Ling would bring that subject up while everybody was still panicking. Sure Ling might have become one of Ed's closer friends, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't grate his nerves at times. Ed elbowed him in the ribs as Mei made a whimpering noise.

"Smooth." Ed whispered harshly, he watched as Winry tried to comfort her friend. It was probably one of the worse times to notice it, but they sure made up one strange group.

"So what are we going to do now?" Winry questioned after she managed to calm her friend down.

Ran-Fan sighed "And now we're back to square one, what are we going to do? We obviously have thousands of variables against us right now, so we don't have many options." Ed nodded, they couldn't just sit here either, when the sun sets enough that could also be a risk for hypothermia. Ed sighed again, they better find some other means of land because both of their current options entail hypothermia.

"We should at least swim in their direction, it will keep our blood flowing, and we'll stay warm. Granted we'll being using up our energy, that could be a risky move if we don't find anything." Winry pointed out and they agree readily. That sound much better than just being a sitting duck, Ed figured.

They made their way through the water, which was slowly dropping in temperature as time moved on by. The sun was starting to set, and panic was starting to creep back up into the group again, and to put icing on the cake, they were swim right above a powerful current. Not one of their smarter choices. Ed felt the water rush by his legs quickly, if he got caught in that, he knew, that there was no chance of surviving it. That knowledge kept his sore muscles moving, much to his bodies protest.

"This probably wasn't a good idea." Mei voiced what was probably everybody's concern. They kept on struggling through the water at a much slower pace until a yelp caught their ears. Ed turned around and paled as he saw Al flail about, struggling to keep his head above the water. That sight alone sent Ed into a blind, adrenaline filled panic. He couldn't let his little brother be pulled under, he wouldn't be able to live with himself knowing that he could have prevented his younger brothers death. Ed reached his arm out to Al, while yelling his name, and trying to get his attention. His world seemed to be moving in slow motion, their hands just brushed up against each other before Al was pulled under by the unforgiving torrent.

Ed watched in a horrified trance as Al disappeared, this scene reminded him of their human transmutation all too much. And he failed both times, he clenched his fists in frustration and growled slightly. No, he was going to save Al, just like he saved him by binding his soul to the armor. Though, he hoped this didn't lead to something as drastic this time.

Without a second thought Ed dived down after his little brother, ignoring the others yelling at him to stop. None of that mattered right now, all he cared about was saving Al. Ed frantically looked around him for his brother, he spotted him being dragged down further into the ocean. Ed quickly followed, ignoring the pressure starting to build up in his lungs. Al looked like he was close to passing out himself, he weakly lifted an arm up to Ed as he grew closer. Ed's own vision was starting to tunnel, and the pressure in his lungs was getting even more painful. He clasped his own hand around Al's just as he gave away to the clutches of unconsciousness.

A stinging sensation filled Ed's lungs and his eyes snapped open. He quickly turned off of his back and coughed up the water that was being held in his lungs. Once he finished coughing he grabbed his now raw throat and gave a pained moan.

"Where am I?" He croaked to no one in particular, his voice was warped and scratchy from all the coughing. He blinked his watery eyes and made out waves crashing down into the sand. So he was on a beach, how did he get here again?

Oh yeah that's right.

Ed's eyes dilated, where was Al? Is he okay? Is he safe? Where were the others? Was he...dead? Ed's eyes started to burn, but he blinked back the on coming tears, why should he cry? He didn't know why he was going to cry, he didn't know for certain that he, or Al, were dead or not. He shouldn't be crying over something that could be completely false. He opened up his eyes with renewed determination, and came face to face with an auburn, fox like creature. They both blinked at each other for a second, the fox looked him over curiously, and Ed was still trying to comprehend what was sitting in front of him.

When his mind put together that the unknown creature was only a few inches from his face, he immediately panicked. He fell onto his side with a yelp, and the fox ran back a few feet with a startled yelp of its own. He quickly stood up and leered down at the creature.

It's whole body was covered in auburn colored fur, and it had chocolate brown eye, it didn't look like it was too old. What made him stare though, were the six tails that it sported instead of the usual one. The first thought that came to mind was that it was a chimera. The creature cocked its head at him and stepped a little closer, Ed eyed it carefully before slowly bending down himself. The fox like creature walked up to him and Ed slowly reached out and scratched behind its ear. The fox purred and butted its head against his hand.

Ed gave it a small smile and continued to pet it. "So what are you supposed to be?" he mumbled and the fox looked up at him and mewled. Ed raised an eyebrow "Are you half fox and half cat?" The fox just mewled again and jumped into his arms. Ed looked down at it apprehensively before setting it down on the sand gently.

"Sorry, but I have to go and look for someone." It gave him a confused look and he sighed "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, it's not like you understand me." Ed turned his back on the creature and stalked off, the fox huffed and slunk off after him. Ed grumbled as the tall grass brushed against his bare legs, scraping them. He was going to travel down the length on the beach and hope that he could find his brother, or at least a town where he can get some help.

The walk felt like hell, the sand was wearing down the skin on his feet making them tire faster, the sun was beating down on him, and the grass was still scraping his legs up. Not to mention that he was unconscious only a little awhile ago, all he wanted was to find a familiar face and then a bed.

It was about half and hour longer before he saw a city form in the distance, his face lit up at the sight. Before it fell slightly, he hasn't seen heads nor tails of his brother all day. A looked of sorrow overcame Ed's features, he hoped that Al was okay. Sure he knew that Al could take care of himself, but that didn't stop him from worrying at all. Ed continued to shuffle forward until his bare foot came in contact with something hard. Ed yelped and grabbed his foot, while glaring at the offending object.

A ball that was red on the top half and white on the bottom sat stuck in the sand.

"What's this?" Ed mumbled as he bent down to pick up the sphere. It was odd looking, that's for sure, but it didn't seem special. Ed shrugged and pocketed the ball, you never know with these kinds of things. Winry might enjoy taking the gadget apart. He would have continued on his lonesome trek through the beach, if a rustle in the bushes didn't throw him on the defensive. He spun around in a crouch and his hand was positioned to clap. A startled yelp came from the bush and out came the same fox creature from earlier.

"What the? Why are you following me?" Ed questioned the fox and it started to mewl up a storm, almost as if it was trying to communicate with him. While it was going through its monologue, Ed pulled out the ball from earlier and started to play with it. The fox stopped mewling almost instantly and eyed the ball, Ed couldn't tell what the look in its eye meant.

"You want to play fetch or something?" The fox looked exasperated before nodding slowly. Ed frowned, was this thing mocking him? He shrugged once more before throwing the ball far ahead of him. The fox quickly sped off ahead of him, towards the ball. He followed after, he might as well pity the creature and play with it on the way to town. He continued down the beach and saw the fox standing next to the ball, Ed frowned slightly and jogged up to it.

"Some way to play fetch, you're supposed to bring it back to me." The fox rolled its eyes and poked the center of the ball. Ed shut his eyes as a bright flash of red light appeared, when the light died down the fox was gone.

"Okay, what the fuck?" Ed gaped and looked at the ball before slowly walking towards it. Hell, that thing just absorbed another living creature, he didn't want to be sucked in there either. When he picked up the ball a slight jolt of energy was sent through him. The ball flashed white this time and a beam flew out of it, and, to his amazement, the fox was standing in front of him with a happy-go-lucky looked plastered on it's face.

_"Well this will make things much easier."_ A female voice rang out through the air and Ed turned around expecting to see someone else. _"What are you looking for, I'm down here."_ Ed's head whipped towards the fox and he stared at it with wide eyes. _"My name is Xera, hope you can put up with me, because you're kind of stuck with me."_ Ed's eye twitched.

"How are you talking?" A dark look crossed over his features as he remembered Nina. Maybe this chimera was also part human? "What kind of chimera are you?"

The fox quirked its head at his statement "_Chimera? What's that? I've never heard of them before. I'm a Pokemon, more specifically, a Vulpix." _Ed eyed the creature in his own confusion.

"A Pokemon?" He questioned and the 'Vulpix' nodded "What is that exactly?" Xera looked at Ed wide eyed. Was that something that he should have known? Oh well, he might as well try and get answers out of her, it is a female right? It would be better after all then running into another human and trying to explain his predicament, which he didn't fully understand himself. Another idea struck him, how could this thing talk to him now? He couldn't understand a word it was trying to say earlier. He also voiced this question to Xera and her eyes widened further in disbelief.

_"How can you not know about Pokemon? We inhabit the whole planet, it should be impossible not to know about us!"_ The whole planet, huh? Well for as long as he has lived in Amestris, he has never seen one of these Pokemon things running around.

"I've never seen any of you in Amsteris before, and you still really haven't answered any of my questions." Ed grounded out, the frustration that was slowly building up in him was starting to show. The fox sighed and planted itself on the sandy beach.

"_I would sit down if I were you. I have a feeling we're going to be here for awhile." _Ed did as he was told, all the while he was questioning what was left of his sanity. He looked out towards where the sun was quickly setting on the horizon, looks like he wouldn't be able to make it into town before dark. Xera followed his gaze and looked at the sun wistfully, a strange sensation of determination was sent through him, and he was bewildered by it. Where did that come from? _"So where do you want to start?"_

Ed considered the question for a second. It was probably best to grab onto the basics first before going into his more detailed questions. "Well for starters, What's a Pokemon?"

_"How to explain this?" _Xera mumbled and thought about it for a minute, Ed shifted in the sand uncomfortably during the silence that stretched between them. "_Well, I'm one type of Pokemon. There are hundreds of different species of us out there. You humans live along besides us, in relative peace._" Ed gave her a confused look.

"Relative peace? You mean humans and Pokemon have wars against each other occasionally?" He asked in amusement, for some reason that idea was a funny thought. Of course the only Pokemon he has seen so far is Xera, and quite frankly, she didn't look so threatening.

Xera sighed "_No, there are some humans out there that want to use our powers for their own gain. Like Team Rocket for example." _She spat out the name harshly. Again Ed felt a sense of hate fill him that was not his own. Xera rounded on him and snarled _"And if I ever catch you associating with them willingly, you are going to be burnt to a crisp!"_

"Okay, okay wait a second you're losing me here. Team Rocket? From what I gather they aren't the best people to be hanging around." Xera gave him a curt nod.

"_Team Rocket uses Pokemon to help themselves grow in power. They are all power hungry, of course Team Rocket isn't the only group like that out there, but it's one of the more well known groups. Though some Pokemon actually decide to help them and their cause on their own will. Most of the Pokemon in that group are usually forced to help them against their will because their trainer joined up with them though."_

"Okay, I kind of got that," Ed nodded and continued "So you Pokemon have powers? Are they really so powerful that they could be used for that kind of thing? And what are trainers, exactly? What does that entail?" During Xera's explanation Ed's thoughts took a turn for the worse, what would happen if the Amestrian military found out about these Pokemon? It would probably be best if he never mentioned this to anyone again. Even though that the old Fuhrer is gone, doesn't mean that the corruption was gone as well. They could easily use these creatures as tools of war, like alchemists, if they are as powerful as Xera was making them out to be.

"_Yes we have powers, I have power over, mainly fire, there are many different kinds out there. As for your second question, yes they can be devastatingly strong if the Pokemon using them is experienced enough. I, myself, is not part of that group. Usually the ones who have that kind of power belong to trainer, have lived for an extremely long time, or are one of the legendary Pokemon that guard the Earth."_

Ed snorted, these legendary Pokemon sounded an awful lot like gods to him, something that he didn't believe in. "Right, legendary Pokemon. I'll believe in them whenever I see one." the Vulpix gave him a glare.

"_You know people won't take kindly to those kinds of remarks, if you are going to think like that, at least pretend that you believe in them."_

"Whatever," Ed scoffed and Xera snorted "So what is a trainer?" Xera gave him an amused look and cocked her head at him.

_"Well, you are." _She stated bluntly, and Ed gave her a leveled look. What the hell was she going on about? How could he be a trainer unknowingly, and not to mention that the knew nothing about trainers, or what they do in the first place.

"Explain." He demanded. She nodded before standing up and trotting over to the red and white ball that she was trapped in earlier. She butted the ball over so that it was sitting in front of him. She walked back over to the spot she was sitting in earlier and sat down again. Ed looked at the ball, okay so what did this mean? He had no clue as to what this was in the first place, so what did she expect him to do?

_"This is a pokeball. Trainers use these to capture Pokemon like me. People capture Pokemon and befriend them, some use them to fight other trainers and their Pokemon, or they use their Pokemon in other various contests. You are now a trainer because you used this pokeball to capture me."_

Ed looked horrified at the idea of capturing another living being capable of intelligent thought. "But, I didn't know that it was going to do that!" The whole concept of being a trainer sounded too cruel. Forcing Pokemon to fight against others? Possibly against their will too? "It's wrong! No one should be forced into something like that! Like hell am I going to be a trainer!"

Xera attempted to shrug _"Whatever, most Pokemon want to be captured by someone at some point in their lives. It makes things much more interesting, and honestly I'm glad that I finally have a trainer." _She gave him a look "_That is if you want to continue being a trainer. You could easily release me right now and walk away like you never met me, and you will sever the bond that was made when you touched the pokeball. Or you can stay as a trainer, and I will stay with you for as long as we live."_

"What bond?"

"_You felt that jolt of energy course through you when you picked up that pokeball, right?"_ Ed nodded slowly _"That was the bond being established, that is how you can understand me. Trainers can only understand their own Pokemon, and if it is the first bond being created, the trainer and Pokemon will be able to sense the others emotions. I have heard that some Pokemon and trainers have reached a point where they can think as one. Those are the ones that become the strongest."_

Ed groaned and placed his head in his hands, this was too much. He couldn't even think straight, first he is separated from his brother, wakes up in a completely foreign area, and now this! How much more can he take before he cracks? Then again, he might have already...

"Damn this is too much." Ed mumbled into his hands, he looked up when he felt the cold metal of the pokeball press up against him. He watched as Xera moved to sit right in front of him.

"_So what are you going to do?"_ Ed looked at the ball miserably, what was he going to do?

"I don't know," he mumbled and stood up, and grabbed the ball and placed it in a pocket of his swimming trunks."I'll tell you my decision tomorrow morning, I'm not thinking clearly right now." Ed watched as Xera nodded and he turned to look at the city, the sun had set completely leaving only the moon and the cities lights light up the area. "I should probably head into town." He started forward but stopped when he didn't hear Xera's paws pad after him. Ed turned around and raised an eyebrow "Are you coming or not?" Xera's eyes brightened slightly and she trotted up next to him.

"_Yes!" _She eyed the pokeball _"You going to put me in there?"_

Ed looked at the ball in his hand and snarled. "No, I don't like the idea of sticking another living creature inside one of these things, however that works." Why make a Pokemon stay in a pokeball? It seem to inhuman, it looked like it was just like locking someone in a room with no windows or doors. He was completely fine with allowing Xera walk along besides him.

Xera's nose twitched _"You sure are an odd human, most wouldn't really care if we were in there or not. By the way," _Ed looked down at her as she trailed off "_I never did catch your name."_

Ed smirked "It's Edward, though you can just call me Ed if you want." He paused for a second and shrugged "Or you could call me Fullmetal, though I prefer not to be called that." Sure Mustang calls him that all the time and he really could care less, but he would rather not be called by something that a monster dubbed him with.

_"Fullmetal? Is that a nickname or something?"_

Ed gave her a rueful smile "It's something like that." He looked up once he felt the rough pavement hit his bare feet, they were just entering the city. Bright lights shone down on them as people walked by chatting with friends and heading to various places. Most likely bars and such at this time of night, now all he had to do was find somewhere to stay for the night. A sudden thought struck him and he froze in place, Xera looked back at him with curiously.

_"What is it?" _Her ear twitched and Ed gave her a sheepish look.

"I don't have any money for a hotel room." He mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck. Now what was he going to do? He had no money, was standing in his swimsuit, and had no place to stay. Things weren't looking so good for him. But if worst came to worst he could always just use alchemy to help himself out. Even though it was technically illegal, you go to do what you got to do.

_"Don't you live here with your family?"_ Xera asked and he shook his head.

"No, I don't live here."

"_I guess that kind of explains why you didn't know that much about Pokemon, but for not knowing at all...?" _Ed shrugged as she trailed off, he felt as confused as she was, and he knew that she could sense it. From what he gathered from earlier, if he could sense her feelings, she could sense his as well. _"Care to explain?"_

Ed looked down at her wearily, and pang of sorrow flowed through him as he remembered the past events from earlier on "Sorry, not right now...," he trailed then attempted to lift the doleful mood "What city is this then?"

Xera 'hmmed' in his mind for a second while glancing around "I believe that this is Olivine City." Ed gave her a blank look. Olivine? He never heard of a city called that in Xing or Amestris before, not like he expected to be in Amestris since they were on a boating vacation. So maybe he ended up in Creta, or somewhere like that.

"Never heard of it." Xera gave him another exasperated look, he seemed to be getting a lot of those lately, and sighed in defeat. She continued on ahead of him a few paces but turned back to look at Ed when she heard that he wasn't following.

_"There's a Pokemon Center further into town if I remember correctly, they take in trainers, even if they are flat out broke." _Ed raised an eye brow in slight disbelief, there was actually a place that gave out free rooms? Now, back in Amestris he would have to pay an arm and a leg to get a room. Ed smirked in his head at his own sick humor, Xera just ignored him and continued on her way down the sidewalk, other civilians barely gave them a second glance as they passed, which Ed was internally grateful for. The two of them eventually arrived in front of a building that had a bright red roof and was made of bright white metal, that some how managed to stay clean no matter what, a neon sign that look like a pokeball lite up the surrounding area. They walked up to the glass doors in the front and Ed gaped when they slide open automatically. Now they definitely didn't have any of those back home.

A women with bright red hair looked up at them from behind, what looked like, the main counter. She was was wearing a nurses uniform and was giving them a warm smile, she beckoned them over, Ed came over obediently but was unsure of what to say.

"Hello, welcome to my Pokemon Center. What do you need today, sweetie?" Ed refrained from huffing indignantly at the women, who was already grating on his nerves by treating him like a child. Instead he gave her a smile of his own and asked politely, quite unlike himself.

"Uh, I heard that I could get a room here for tonight even if I don't have any money, is that true?" The nurse smiled and nodded before digging around in a drawer for something.

"That's right, trainers can stay here for as long as they like, as long as they aren't causing any trouble." She looked down at him from over the counter "I'm guessing that's what you're here for?" Ed nodded and the nurse smiled yet again. Damn, do this women ever get angry? She pulled out a card key from the desk and slid it over to him. "Your room is number 14, if you go down the left hall its the seventh room down. Now, do any of your Pokemon need healing?"

Ed looked a little shocked, but schooled himself almost immediately, he didn't want to give this woman any reason to suspect anything. He didn't know that they also treated wounds here. He looked down at Xera who shook her head. Ed looked back up at the woman "No, she says she's good." The woman looked a little surprised.

"Is that Vuplix your only Pokemon?" she asked curiously, from the sounds of it she probably had more trainers that had more pokemon come here to stay. Ed just nodded.

"Yeah, I just became a trainer recently, she's my first one." he said as he placed a hand on top on Xera's head, she purred slightly at the contact, and it still startled Ed slightly that the fox like creature could make such a noise.

"Well congratulations then!" She chirped as she clapped her hands together "Say kiddo, do you have any pokeballs?" Ed gave her an odd look at the sudden topic change, but slowly shook his head. She spun around and opened a metal cabinet and pulled out five more pokeballs. She turned back to Ed and placed them into his hand along with his room key. Ed was about to give them back, but she shoved them back towards him and winked. "It's a new thing Pokemon Centers are doing, we give new trainers five pokeballs to catch themselves a team, but those pokeballs might not be able to capture the Pokemon, so you when you run out just go to a supply center and they will have some more." Ed nodded and gave her a smile.

"Thank you miss..." Ed trailed as he realized that he didn't know her name.

"Just call me Nurse Joy."

"Right, I'm Edward Elric, but just call me Ed." She nodded and the clock on the other side of the room struck ten. The sound rang through out the room, leaving a hollow noise in the air. Joy looked back over at Ed and smiled.

"Well it's getting late, the dining room is closed at this time, but there should be some food in your room, you should probably get some sleep." Ed nodded and she waved at him before walking into the back room, Ed looked down at Xera and smiled.

"Well, lets get going." Xera nodded while trying to cover up her amused snorts, when the two of them reached their room Ed finally had enough and looked down at her expectantly. "What the hell is it?" Xera didn't even bother holding in her laughter anymore, and it confused Ed. She noticed the look on his face and decided to humor him by telling him what was on her mind.

_"You acted so sweet around the Nurse, how come you can't do the same thing for me?" _Ed snorted before shoving the card key into the lock and opening the door, watching out for Xera's tails as he shut it with a click.

"Well she is letting me stay here for free, I figure that it wouldn't be too smart to blow up at her." Xera snickered as she walked further into the room and Ed rolled his eyes at the fox. He threw the key onto the end table next to the bed, which looked real inviting at this point. Before he could collapse onto his bed, however, he caught a glance of his reflection in the mirror that sat on the far wall of the empty room. He couldn't stop the strangled gasp that escaped him when he saw his twelve year old body standing where he should have been. Ed slowly walked up to the mirror and placed his hand onto the cold glass, Xera watched curiously from the room's small couch, and cocked her head at his reaction.

"How...," Ed trailed before he groaned as he walked back to the bed and sat down on it "How did this happen?"

_"What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost."_ Xera spoke up from her makeshift bed and Ed looked over at her with an unreadable expression.

"What's wrong?" He spoke incredulously "I'm in a twelve year old body that's whats happened!" He yelled and his voice rung throughout the room magnifying it, and Xera flinched at the noise.

"_Well you are twelve aren't you? So what's the problem?"_ Ed gave her a considering look for a second, should he tell her that he was really supposed to be sixteen? Could he trust her with that kind of information? Xera continued to look at him looking more and more impatient the longer silence stretched on. Ed finally came to a decision and gave her a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You're right, sorry I do that sometimes. I like to pretend that I'm older than I really am, so people don't treat me like a kid, but it doesn't look like it works too well, huh?" Xera nodded with, what Ed hoped, was an amused smile. The last thing he wanted to do right now was try to explain this to her, especially since he just met her, and he wasn't completely aware of the situation himself. With that being said and done, Ed laid down on the bed and stretched out, he was about to fall asleep when he murmured a quiet goodnight to Xera.

_"'Night" _Came the sleepy reply, and before Ed knew it he drifted off into a restless sleep. The scene where he grabbed onto his brother before passing out kept replaying on the inside of his head.

* * *

There is actually a whole story behind the boat thing painted inside of my head, but I'm not sure if I'll include it...maybe I just make it into a one shot later. If you're confused about anything, tell me and I'll try my best to clarify it!

Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to everybody who has reviewed, fav-ed, and/or alerted this story! I really appreciate it! This chapter is going to include what happened on the boat, sorry if you guys were looking forward to seeing Ed and Xera again. Oh, and I probably should have said it last chapter, but I like Hughes too much to let him be killed off, so he's still here. On another note, I use cannon pairings, I'm a stickler for those.

Okay, so I got a few questions I need to answer.

First, the bond between a Pokemon and trainer is not limited to only Ed, all trainers have them, but the trainer is the only one that can understand their Pokemon; so it's _almost_ like the telekinesis in the anime. What Ed has right now with Xera is just the beginning stages of 'the bond' as it is called, nothing can really come out of it; besides the fact that they can talk to each other. So I'm kind of changing things around in the Pokemon world a little bit to make it a little more interesting. Next, Ash's group is in the Johto arc, Ed might hear about them or possibly meet them a couple of times, but he won't be traveling with them.

Now, I'm thinking about changing character P.O.V's after a couple of chapters so we can see what are other favorite characters have got themselves into. I would like to know what you guys think about it.

Warnings: The same as the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I own neither Pokemon or FMA.

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The sun beat down on the occupants on the rather large boat as waves slapped up against the side. Elicia squealed in delight as the salty water sprayed in her face, her father watched from the other side of the boat and started to gush over the scene.

Hughes turned to his friend, Roy, and pointed over to Elicia and started up on one of the rants he was famous for "Isn't she so sweet, Roy?" He squealed as Roy told himself not to snap, literally, at the man. After a few days passed by once the fight with Father was over, Roy found out that he had no need to use transmutations circles anymore. Now, he could snap and create a giant ball of fire without his pyrotech gloves.

"Yes, of course she is, Maes." He replied the best he could without sounding irritated. Maes nodded happily and pulled out a couple of pictures he had hidden in one of his pockets and shove them into Roy's face. Roy's subordinates watched this from the table on the back end of the boat, and snickered into their hands. Roy sent them a menacing glare, and both Fuery and Falman fell silent, but Havoc and Breda weren't done making fun of his expense.

"Uh, guys," Fuery spoke up quietly "The Colonel looks pretty mad, maybe you should stop." He sunk lower into his chair as the attention of all the men turned on him. Havoc barked out a laugh and Breda followed suit.

"Are you kidding Kain? This is priceless, how often do we get to see the 'oh so stoic Colonel' get pissed off this easily?" Havoc snorted in amusement around his cigarette. He ignored the quiet 'almost everyday' from the mousy man and continued to laugh. "This is what the man gets for stealing all of my girlfriends, the bastard." A shadowed loomed over the blond man, and he turned around to see who it was, and paled almost immediately when he saw the pissed off face of his superior officer.

"Bastard, huh? Sounds like you've been around Fullmetal too much, Jean." Roy started levelly, and somewhere in the water the men heard Ed sneeze. He plopped down in the empty chair next to the blond man and glared at all of them. "Next time you all need help, you can forget about me coming to save your ass." He gave a pointed look at Havoc who raised his hands up defensively.

Havoc grinned. "Okay, okay, I got the message, I'll shut up now." The fight with Father ended when Hohenhiem sacrificed himself to end the battle, and used the souls inside of his body to restore what the 'sacrifices' lost. When they were cleaning up the room Father stayed in, they found a door that lead to a storage room for small philosopher stones. Roy immediately thought about using one to cure Havoc of his paralysis when he heard about it from a Sergent reporting to him while he stayed in the hospital. The Elric's and their teacher, Izumi, were still too exhausted to perform the transmutation themselves which left him to do it himself. Though he did ask Edward about which transmutation circle he should use for the process, after much convincing Edward finally caved and sketched it out on a piece of paper, but not without warning him that this was right up there with human transmutation and could easily go horribly wrong. Though he would never regret his decision as he saw the look on Havoc's face as he found out that he was able to walk again; right before he passed out from exhaustion, and landed himself in the hospital again, twice in the same week.

"So, how did you get away from Maes?" Breda spoke up, and Roy smirked evilly. The others looked at his before shivering slightly, Roy could certainly pull of that look effectively.

"Oh, I told him that Elicia was singing some song at the front of the boat, and he sped off with his camera in hand." He shrugged "I guess that is one downsides to this vacation, I can't just hang up on him if I get too annoyed like back at the office." Falman sighed as he remembered how many times he had to go down to the front desk and ask them to place an order for another phone either because Roy shattered the phone because he hung it up too hard, or he had set it on fire. Of course everybody got a good chuckle out of this because Hawkeye would never forget to shoot a round of bullets next to the mans head whenever that happened.

A squeal came from the front of the boat and the others looked at each other with raised eye brows before getting up and walking over to the noise. What they saw made them either sigh in exasperation or laugh. Elicia was sitting next to her mother, who had her face hidden him her hands in embarrassment, while Hawkeye was pointing a gun at Hughes.

"Roy!" Hughes yelled for his friends and quickly ran behind him for a shield. "Help me!" Roy payed no attention to him, as he was too busy looking into the barrel of a gun that was now trained on him. Why Hawkeye felt the need to bring her gun on the boat, Roy will never know; all he knew was that he didn't want that thing pointed at him.

"Please move, sir." She replied automatically.

"Why do you insist on calling me, sir, Riza? We're not working after all, and I thought we were past that by now too." Roy smiled as she frowned at him, he knew that she didn't like it when he brought up their relationship. But of course, since he is Roy, he has to push everybody's limits. "I mean you had no problem calling me, Roy, when-" A shot rang out and a bullet whizzed by his head. A few ends of his black hair fell to the ground as the color left his face. The bullet flew straight into the control room and there was a sound of metal slamming against metal, and the whine of gears spinning out of control as the bullet struck something other than its mark. The motor of the boat started up, and everybody fell silent. The boat abruptly jerked forward and all of the occupant were knock down onto the floor.

"Well this isn't good!" Breda muttered from where he was being smothered by Hughes; who quickly got off him to pick up his now crying daughter.

"Somebody should do something before we crash, or run out of gas!" Hughes yelled over Elicia's terrified wails. He rocked her and watched as the soldiers quickly got up from their spot on the ground to run into the control room. Smoke was pouring out of the room from a rather large fire, most likely created by a stray spark landing on the carpet. Roy cursed and coughed as the wind blew more smoke into his face. This wasn't they way he wanted to spend his vacation!

"Hey Mustang, put out the damn fire before we all become barbecue!" Havoc yelled as the fire licked his bare forearm. Roy looked over at him and scowled, he only started fires, he didn't put them out. Not to mention that his gloves were in the control room anyways, and they were probably no more than ash now, even though he didn't need them anymore he kept them for sentimental reasons. He quickly glanced around the boat to look for another alternative, he refused to say that there was no hope, after all they've been through, he wasn't about to let it end like this.

The flames grew bigger for a second and a flash of bright red caught his eye, a fire extinguisher sat right next to the door way, unfortunately the fire was right next to it. There was no way that anyone could get that without being burned. Roy sighed and weighed their current options before deciding on what to do. He reached for the extinguisher quickly and winced as the flames consumed his arm, all the while, he told himself that he should be used to it by know. His hand closed around the nozzle and he quickly pulled back from the flames. His arm was now a bright red, and stung like holy hell when the wind slammed into it.

Despite the pain, he pointed the nozzle at the fire and pulled the lever back, and the foamy white spray shot out of it; consuming the fire. The last of the embers quickly died down and revealed the completely destroyed room. The metal was glowing a bright red, and some of it had even melted a little, but not enough to damage any of the controls further, obviously, because the boat was still going at full speed. Ashes were scattered around the carpet and the room smelt of smoke. No matter, they couldn't stop now, they had to stop the boat first.

Roy turned to Fuery and motioned for him to follow, the man nodded meekly and stepped into the room with the Colonel. "Watch out for the metal, you burn yourself if you touch it." He warned and Fuery nodded once more, while walking a little further from anything that was made up of metal. They walked over to where electricity was still sparking from out of the bullet hole that had been created. Roy scowled, they were going to have to stop that somehow before it sparked yet another fire. He bent down to eye level with the hole and reached towards it before stopping about and inch or two away. Now didn't he just tell Fuery not to touch it? He cursed again as he ran into another dead end.

"Uh, sir?" Fuery quietly spoke up from were he crouched down next to him "The boat has a tool box in the back, we could use the tools to open the control box instead of using our hands." Roy looked at him before smirking, it was times like these that he absolutely loved his crew.

"Excellent idea, Fuery" He praised him and turned back towards the door to yell "Can someone get the tool box from the back? I don't care who, we just need it in here, and fast!" The sound of feet pounding against the floor met his ears as he turned around to look at the hole. Soon enough someone walked into the room and stopped beside him.

"Sir." Hawkeye held out the tools to him and Roy took it with a nod of thanks. He quickly opened it and scanned over the tools before turning back to Fuery "Do you think you can stop the boat with these?" Fuery looked at them himself with a contemplating look on his features before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, these should work." Roy nodded and moved out of his way. Fuery pulled out a screw driver and looked at it for a couple of seconds before sticking it in a different hole from where the metal melted away. After a few minutes of watching the man struggle the plate finally came off its hold, and clattered as it hit the floor. Fuery quickly grabbed more tools out of the box and went to work as fast as he could on the machine. At some point he managed to extract the bullet from one of the gears and Hawkeye looked away uneasily, silently berating herself for her rash actions that lead to the events in the past few minutes. Soon enough the sparks died down and the engine cut off, and the boat slowed to a stop. You could hear the sighs of relief come from everybody. Fuery dropped the tools and laid back with a sigh, he wasn't willing to tell them how close the bullet actually came to hitting one of the gas lines in the engine.

Roy and Hawkeye walked out of the room together, Fuery told them that he wanted to make sure that everything was okay before leaving, and Roy was immediately bombarded by people.

"What are we going to do now?"

"What happened to your arm? Are you going to be okay?!"

"We left the kids back there; they're probably panicking by now..."

Before the onslaught could continue he barked at them to be quiet, they immediately fell silent; waiting for him to answer. He rolled his eyes but started to answer them anyways "We obviously, need to find land soon, or we are going to regret it, I don't think that it would be safe to start the engine again, but I'm not the technician on board, so I'm not sure. My arm was burnt when I got the extinguisher, and it's fine, it stings like a bitch, but I've been through worse and lived. As for the kids, they are tougher than that, they will be fine, but we probably should find them as soon as possible." Roy spoke nonchalantly, as if this was a simple conversation in the office and nothing more so that the others wouldn't start to panic. It seem to work somewhat, but they all knew, except for Elicia, how much danger they were actually in.

Fuery soon walked out of the room while wiping the sweat off his face, and everybody immediately turned to him, noticing all of the stares, Fuery froze in place. He quickly became self conscious and backed up a few steps while holding his hands up; mutter a weak "What did I do?"

"Are we able to start the engine up again?" Falman questioned and Fuery shook his head.

"No, I cut the gas because if a spark landed on it, it could have caused and explosion." That caused for a few unsettled looks, nobody spoke up after that statement, no one had any idea what to do. Finally, Havoc groaned and plopped down onto the cushioned bench and placed his hands in his head.

"So, we are basically screwed, aren't we? We have no engine, and we only have enough food for about four days, don't we?" In a quieter voice he added "Not to mention I'm almost out of cigarettes."

"Well, we definitely have it better off." Hughes spoke up "We actually have food and water, where as the kids are stuck out in the middle of the ocean with nothing but the clothes on their backs."

"If we don't find them soon, things aren't looking too good for them." Hawkeye remarked quietly and Roy frowned. Although he agreed with her, it didn't sound right to just let them die without even trying.

"You have a point there, Riza, so we might as well get to work." Roy spoke in a commanding tone, everybody just gave him a confused look, but he continued on, nevertheless. "I'm not about to let anybody die if I have any say about it!" The others shook their head in exasperation and smiled as Roy spun around and walked off towards the back of the ship, know that they couldn't change his mind anytime soon, the man was just too stubborn.

A hour or two later they managed to create a massive sail out of blankets, thanks to Roy's alchemy. They attached it to a mast that once was the damaged control room, Roy also used his alchemy to transmute it, unfortunately, it wasn't the biggest mast in the world, and Roy didn't want to play around with the boats materials too much since he isn't familiar in that kind of alchemy. But then again, the makeshift sail was working and they were moving, albeit at a slow pace, though it was better than nothing. Though it didn't satisfy Roy, knowing that the others out in the water could be dead in the time that they've already wasted.

"Roy!" Hughes called from the second floor of the boat, Roy leaned out of the side to get a good look at his friend.

"What is it?"

"I think I see a storm up a head!" Hughes pointed in front of them and Roy swore, how didn't he notice that before? This trip was turning out to be quite hellish, they haven't been having the best of luck lately. The winds started to pick up a bit and the sail snapped as the wind slammed into the cloth; creating a deafening howl. White caps started to form on the top of the water as they ventured further on, and the waves on the surface grew taller on the previously smooth waters. A wave slammed into the front of the boat, and sprayed all of the occupants.

"Damn, this isn't good." Roy cursed, there was no way out of this, the wind was tail gating them, even if they were to turn around they would still be pushed into the raging storm ahead. Another waved slammed into the boat creating an even larger spray of water. The boat shook harshly was the waves slammed into it, Roy had to grab onto the railing to keep from falling, and he watched as the others did the same. Havoc and Breda were swearing up a storm as the moved to the mast of the ship. Gracia held Elicia close and huddled over her form on one of the seats, Riza was currently tying everything down, so that it wouldn't be lost. Falman and Fuery were under the tarp with him; trying to get the radio to work, a futile attempt, they had been at it for awhile now and still had no success. Roy, himself was manning the wheel, the only thing that he didn't transmute in the control room into the mask, and was trying his best to sail through the storm. Hughes was on top looking for the wayward teens, if they somehow managed to live through this, which would be somehow possible knowing them.

"Do you see them at all, Maes?" Roy yelled up to him.

"No, nothing!" He yelled back. Another wave slammed into the boat, and the rain followed soon after, drenching them all. Roy couldn't help but feel useless in this situation. They continued through the raging torrent with their hopes wavering, Hughes climbed down from the roof when the wind got too strong for him and went to sit next to his family. Riza walked up to Roy silently and watched as they plowed on through the storm.

"Thing's aren't looking very good, are they?" She asked him quietly "What are the chances of us getting through this alive?" She watched the lightning light up the dark grey sky with a subdued look on her face.

Roy sighed and gave a pained smile as he looked over at all of the boats occupants, everybody seemed to be getting too tired to keep on working at the pace they were before. With the storm only growing strong, things weren't looking too bright. "No, they aren't." He admitted quietly. "This is all my fault, I'm the one who suggested this in the first place, I'm the one at blame here for getting us into this situation."

Riza looked sadly at the man "Roy, this is not your fault." He gave her a startled look as she used his first name, she never did that; only the titles, Colonel, and sir, were the words she used to address him before. He only knew of one time when she called him by his name. "You didn't know that this was going to happen, I'm sure none of us blame you."

Roy slammed his fist against the wheel in irritation and hung his head. "No!" He yelled, frustrated "I'm your superior officer, it is my job to make sure that my subordinate are alive and well, and I've failed my men." Hawkeye placed her hand on his uninjured shoulder, the closest that she would allow herself to get to the man, in an attempt to pacify his anger. He tensed under her touch, but relaxed slightly and looked over at her.

"You can't protect everybody forever, we are soldiers, and it was just a matter of time before this happened, and we have been prepared for it since the day we signed up to join the military." She squeezed his shoulder but this action did nothing to comfort him. He looked over at the Hughes family with a guilty expression.

"What about them, Gracia and Elicia, I mean, they aren't in the military, they aren't prepared for this. Elicia is just four, damn it, and what about the others we lost earlier! They were to young to die too!" Roy growled and Hawkeye sighed in her own frustration, he just didn't get it.

"Roy, you can't control the weather, you are not a god!" She yelled at him and threw her arms up in the air. "If anybody is to blame here, it should be me! I was the one who fired the bullet, so I'm the one who created this mess! I'm the one to blame, not you!" Roy stared at her shocked at her outburst, she noticed the look and immediately started to apologize. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean-" She was cut off when Roy place his own hand on her shoulder.

"No, you're right Riza, I'm not at blame here, but neither are you." He spoke to her quietly "We aren't gods, we are just small humans who temporarily inhabit this planet, just so we can die later on in life. What was it Fullmetal would always say? All is one and one is all, is that right? I think I finally understand what that means." He trailed and the two of them stood there in silence; looking at each other. It probably wasn't one of the best times to notice it, but she looked absolutely beautiful to him, even if her hair was tangled together in knots from the wind and rain beating down on them. He was so captivated by her that he didn't heard Breda's startled shout until Riza broke eye contact and ran over to the man.

He sighed disappointed as the moment between them was ruined just like that. He looked ahead and his eyes widened in horror as he saw what Breda sounded so panicked about, Not too far ahead of them a massive whirlpool resided. The water swirled around at extreme speeds, and their boat was heading straight towards it. There was no chance of living through that if they got caught in it. Roy spun the wheel so that the boat would, hopefully, sail towards the right, but just as their luck would have it, when the boat turned slightly it almost turned onto its side. Roy had to straighten it once more to keep it from capsizing. The boat grew closer and closer to the raging whirlpool, and Roy closed his eyes in defeat.

"Guess this is it." He said to himself right before the boat was dragged into the ruthless current. The screams of his friends echoed throughout his head, and he winced as each one tore his soul apart, it pained him so much more than the burn on him arm. Water quickly surrounded him and dragged him under, and he didn't even try to fight it, he knew that there was no way that he could get away from this, but if he did he would never be able to live with himself knowing that the others had died.

He opened his eyes once more, to take a look at what would be his watery grave and came face to face with a set of bright, red, glowing eyes. He smiled a bitter smile and the only thing he could think before the surrounding water around him turned into a blinding light was '_I guess that I'm truly useless in the rain.'_

_

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_Okay, so here's the boat scene, it's not just a filler, I swear! I was going to make it longer, but it seemed like a good length, and it also has a good cliffy! (Least I think so)

So tell me how you liked it, and questions? Please Review!


	3. Chapter 3

o.o Well, I'm sorry for not updating in awhile. I'm pretty bad at that sort of thing, hopefully, since it's summer and all, that I will be updating more. So again, I'm sorry for the wait, I hope this makes up for it. Oh, and how about that end for FMA, huh? I thought it was pretty epic; a good ending for an awesome series. Though I am sad that it is over, I'm going to miss it...

Same warnings as before, and I don't think I'm missing anything else at the moment, don't hesitate to tell me if I did.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or Pokemon.

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"_Hey!_" A voice rang inside of Ed's head and he groaned before pulling the beds covers over his head. He was about to fall asleep again when a small, solid mass jumped onto his covered figure, Ed let out a startled cry before pushing the mass off of him. Ed slowly sat up and let the covers pool around his waist, he eyed the fox like creature with a sleepy glare. Xera just gave him a dopey smile and acted like she did nothing wrong.

"_Good morning, Ed!"_ Xera chirped and Ed groaned and her enthusiasm.

"Good?" Ed scoffed "What's so good about it? I still want to sleep, it's only," He glanced over at the digital clock next to his bed and his eyes widened "Six?" He finished with a screech. Xera flinched at the volume of his voice before jumping off his bed.

"_Yup! I'm hungry, and I'm tired of waiting, so we're going to eat. Now." _She demanded as she walked over to the door. Ed sighed but slipped off of the bed, he shivered as the cold air attacked his bare chest. He was still in his swim suit from yesterday since he had no extra clothes. He grabbed the room key before shuffling over to the door and pushing it open. Xera dashed out into the hallway with a yip; Ed shook his head, but followed after her. Xera would occasionally look back at him to see if he was following.

"_Hurry up! I swear you're as slow as a Slowpoke!" _She yelled back at him as she disappeared around a corner. Ed scowled at her remark, he might not of known what a Slowpoke was, but he was guessing that she just insulted him. He picked up his pace and soon found himself in front of the door leading into the dining room. There weren't too many people in there at the moment, only about six, but his eyes widened as he spotted some of the other trainers Pokemon eating along with their partners. He walked into the room and ignored the quick glances that the others gave him, and looked around for Xera.

Soon enough he found her sitting below the table where all the food had been placed. He walked over to her and poked her with his foot, and smirked when she startled slightly. She turned on him with, what Ed thought was a glare, and scowled.

"_Haha," _She sneered sarcastically "_That was so funny I almost forgot to laugh. Now are you forgetting what we came here for?"_

Ed sighed as he picked up a plate and started to pile a large amount of food on it "I know, I know. You don't have to remind me. Now what do you want?" She looked surprised for a second before putting her front paws on the edge of the table and looked at the food spread out before her.

"_Hmm," _Xera pointed with her snout towards a plate that had bacon piled up on it "_I'll take some of that, it smells good." _Ed nodded before piling a bunch of bacon onto the plate. He grabbed a bagel and an apple also before he decided to go find a place to sit down. They ended up grabbing a small table near a window that opened up to something akin to a track field. Xera jumped onto the top of the table and looked at Ed expectantly, he caught her gaze and threw a strip of bacon at her.

The two of them ate their breakfast and watched as people came and went; Ed questioned Xera whenever a new pokemon came into view, and she answered him around the bacon in her mouth. Ed took notice that she was being rather patient with him, unlike the day before when she didn't have a problem pointing out her exasperation in whatever way she could. Ed snorted slightly, he wondered if it was because he was going to decide today if they were going to stay together or not. An amused look covered Ed's face; when he phrased it like that, it sounded like he was about to break up with a girlfriend or something.

The people here were considerably strange. All of the people walking into the room had some really strange clothing, and coming from Ed, that was big statement considering his own clothing preferences. Despite the foreign looks of these people, most of them looked generally happy. From where Ed sat, he felt like an outsider, even though he truly was one, it felt like he had a giant sign around his neck staying "Hey look over here, I'm obviously not from this world!"

"_Hey, you finished yet?"_ Xera's voice pierced through this morbid thoughts and Ed looked down at her and then down at the bagel and apple he picked up, he barely ate either of them. Ed, decided that he didn't have much of an appetite at the moment and threw his unfinished food into a trash can and walking out of the room. Only a second later did his ears pick up the sound of paws padding after him on the cold tiles. Xera didn't ask him where he was going, but he felt her curiosity coming off her in waves.

They managed to leave the Pokemon Center without any trouble and the two of them made their way down the street. It was a lot more busy than it was the night before, unsurprisingly. And it was a lot hotter, if he still had his automail, the metal would have started to burn his skin at this point.

People barely gave them a second glance as they walked by. The buildings began to thin out and before the two of them knew it, they were on the beach once more. Ed looked out over the water with pained eyes; Xera looked up at him as she felt his pain, but she didn't look like she knew what to do. Should she try to comfort him, or leave him to be? She felt a pang of envy, when she was talking with some of the other Pokemon back at the Pokemon Center, she could sense the bond they had with their trainers and wished to have something like that with her own trainer.

The two of them stood there is silence, dark or envious thoughts plaguing their minds, until Xera couldn't take it anymore.

_"So, what are you going to do, Ed? Are you going to be a trainer or are you going to break the bond right here and now?" _Ed glanced down at her and sighed before pulling out the pokeball. He threw it up in the air a couple of times before his gazed hardened and he pressed the button at the center. A bright red light sparked around Xera like lightning and disappeared. She looked up at him with wide eyes, and she tried to voice her own protests but all that came out of her was a long and mournful whine.

Ed turned away from the saddened Vulpix and looked out towards the ocean. "I'm sorry Xera, I don't feel right about keeping you around like a slave. It will be better this way anyways, anybody who ever gets to know me always ends up getting hurt one day because of me. I would rather want to live knowing that I didn't fuck up everybody's lives."

Xera mewled at him and pawed at his leg, he glance at her before turning away again and walking off. "We barely know each other, so why are you making such a big deal out of this?" He then left her with that question hanging in the air. Xera watched with doleful eyes as his figure shrunk the farther he got away from her. She whimpered once more and slunk off into the tall grass growing out of the sand.

Ed continued his walk along the stretch of sand, stiffly. That was harder than he thought it would be; when the red light consumed Xera and severed the bond, it felt like something was being ripped out of him. Ed snorted at the statement, it should be impossible for his body to grow accustom to any such thing that fast. It took him a year before he could grasp the basic motor function of his automail, so it would only make sense that something like a mental bond should take much longer to develop. Ed shuffled along in the sand letting the salty water splash against his legs. His eyes were plastered to the spot in front of him, but it was like he wasn't actually seeing. He was too lost in thought to notice any of his surroundings.

So imagine his shock when he heard a familiar shout come from further ahead.

Ed's head snapped up so fast that later he had reason to believe that he had whiplash. In front of him stood a large slab of granite that was sitting halfway in the water. Crab like creatures were shuffling around it and were making something akin to a sputtering noise, they were clamping their claws together in the air impatiently. Ed looked up at the top of the rock and saw a kid with short black hair clinging to the side. The kid yelped as a claw barely missed the back of his leg, he shuffled up higher when the rock began to crumble.

"Somebody, help!" The kid yelled, and, again, the voice seemed familiar. Ed looked around for something to use for a weapon before slamming his palm into this forehead. Duh, he could just use alchemy to make a weapon, there were plenty of metals in the area for that. Ed clapped his hands loudly, which drew the attention of both the boy and crabs, and slammed his palms into the sand. He sat there, horrified, as the familiar sensation of alchemical energy didn't build up inside of him. He repeated the process a couple of times before giving up. Ed looked down at his hands in a daze, so alchemy didn't work here? He was snapped out of his stupor as the boy called down to him.

"Ed! Watch out, they are coming after you!" Ed looked up sharply at his name, how did this kid know him? Before he could question the kid a claw pinched the skin on his right leg, Ed yelped at the stinging sensation and watched at the other crabs moved in on him. He looked around at what his options were and decided to simply run around the small army of crabs and climb up on the rock. He climbed high enough so that he was right next to the other boy. The crabs sputtered in protest and began to foam in the mouth as another victim got away.

"Fancy meeting you here, Ed." The boy next to him commented and Ed tried his best to cover his curious expression with a demanding one.

"Who the hell are you?" He questioned bluntly and the boy looked hurt, he took one hand off of the rock and placed it over his heart.

"Oh, you wound me so with your words. Don't you recognize me?" The boy asked making all of these hand motions that made Ed wonder how he was still able to cling onto the rock.

"No, I can't say I do." Ed shook his head and the other boy frowned before smirking slightly.

"I'm Ling Yao, I guess that my normal self looks a lot different than what I did a few years ago." Ed looked at Ling in shock, so he wasn't the only one here in this strange world? That could also mean that Al was still be alive somewhere in this world. Ed smiled at the familiar face.

"Well it's good to see someone I know here." Ed stated and Ling grinned.

"Sure is, but seriously how did you not change at all, and I am now eleven again?" Ed froze and his smile slowly warped into a sardonic grin, Ling blinked at the sudden change in demeanor. "Hey, you okay there, Ed?" Ed twitched and sent his friend a haunting gaze that made Ling shiver slightly.

"Did you just call me...small," Ed twiched again as he said the word "by any chance, Ling?" The look on his face promised a slow and painful death if he answered, yes. So Ling untactfully stuttered out an excuse.

"No! I was just joking, Ed. Don't worry, your normal body doesn't look anything like that!" He laughed nervously and Ed continued to stare at him before huffing and letting the subject go. Ed watched as Ling peered down at their captors below. "Well, this is pathetic. We're able to save the world from the homunculi, but a few crabs are able to defeat us so easily." He snorted and Ed rolled his eyes.

"Well, as I'm sure you saw, my alchemy doesn't seem to be working, what do you suggest we do, your highness." Ed asked sarcastically, and Ling quieted down immediately. He looked over at Ed and then back down at the crabs before shrugging.

"Like hell if I know."

"Great, so we're suck here." Ed groaned and placed his forehead against the cold stone. He started to think of scenarios inside of his head to figure out a way to get them out of this situation, though all he really did was succeed in was entertaining himself. He grinned as he pictured himself shoving Ling off of the pillar of stone as a sacrifice and running while the crabs were feasting off of Ling's flesh. Ed started to cackled at his own plan and didn't notice when Ling started to climb up higher on the pillar, though he noticed when Ling almost shoved him off when he landed a good, hard kick onto his shoulder.

"What the hell?" Ed yelled up at the boy, but Ling ignored him and motioned for Ed to follow. Ed sent him a curious looked and started to climb up the stone, barely wincing as the jagged ends of the stone cut into his bare skin. He made it to the top where Ling was on his knees peering further off on the beach. Ed looked out in the same direction, but couldn't spot what Ling was looking at, he grumbled his annoyance when he figured that all the years of reading those text books were finally starting to damage his eyes. "What is it?"

"I think I see someone further out." Ling answered and squinted his eyes even further, which Ed didn't think was possible until now. "They're still a little too far out for me to figure out who, or what it is." Ed nodded and continued to try and see the figure out in the distance. When a blurry, black figure managed its way into his vision, Ed turned back to Ling and waited for him to describe what he saw. "I think that the person is a woman, it's still a little hard to tell."

They sat they in silence, Ling continued to watch the figure, and Ed eyed the crabs below, and wondered if they were ever going to give up, or if the two of them were going to be stuck atop of this rock for who knows how long.

"Say Ling," Ed started and Ling grunted his acknowledgment, he didn't want to take his eyes off of the approaching figure "what exactly did you do to piss off all of these crabs?"

"I was hungry." He stated and left it at that, Ed stared at him before sighing and leaving it at that. Of course, that sound like something Ling would do. "By the way, I can see the person now, it's a woman and a blond, looks familiar too." He commented and Ed looked at the figure which was know close enough for him to see as well. He had to keep his jaw from dropping as he watched the figure of a short, blond haired woman walking closer to the both of them.

He blinked as the figure stopped and stared in their direction, Ling waved his arms frantically to make sure that he got the person's attention while Ed cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Hey, Hawkeye! Over here!" The figure seem to hesitate slightly before cautiously walking closer to them. It stopped about thirty feet away, where both of the boys could see Hawkeye clearly.

"Edward? What are you doing up there? And who is that with you?" She yelled up to him.

"It's Ling, and we're a little suck up here." He paused before grudgingly asking her for help. As much as hates asking, they did need it at the moment. Though he didn't know how she would be able to help, she was only in her own swim suit and the only other thing she had was a bag she had strapped around her shoulder from the boat.

Ed watched as she nodded and started to go through the bag, the two of them on the rock watched curiously. Soon enough she found what she was looking for, and both of their eyes widened when a familiar glimpse of silver caught their eyes. Hawkeye pulled out a bright silver hand gun and a couple of bullets, she loaded a few of them into the clip and turned off the safety. She pointed the barrel at the over sized crabs, who have yet to notice her, and shot at their feet. The crabs scrambled away from the area in a startled panic; Hawkeye fired another bullet at the sand, and the rest of the crabs scrambled to the water. When all of the crabs were out of the area, Ed and Ling climbed down the pillar and stopped in front of Hawkeye.

They both thanked her and Ling bowed slighty, she nodded and hid away her gun in the bag. She eyed both of the boys and sighed as she ran a hand through her now short hair, she looked to be around the same age Ed first met her.

"I guess my hair didn't just get chopped off in the chaos, I really did lose a few years." She commented "So do either of you know where we're at?"

Ling shook his head, but Ed nodded and pointed behind him "There is a city back there, Olivine if I remember correctly. I did manage to get some information." The other two nodded.

"We should get into town, I have some money in here to get some actual clothing." Hawkeye stated as she walked off into the direction Ed pointed, and the other two followed closely behind.

"So, um, Riza." Ling started "How did you end up here. The last time I saw you, you were still on the boat. And what was the deal with you guys leaving us like that?"

Hawkeye nodded "Yes, I was on the boat, but there was," She pause for a second "an incident with the engine and we lost control, we were later dragged into a whirlpool, and I some how ended up here. I don't know what happened to any of the others however." She didn't bother to to tell them that it was her own carelessness that caused the engine to act up. The two seemed to be too shocked to press that matter further.

"So the others could be dead?" Ed spoke to nobody in particular, Hawkeye didn't bother to answer, but the heavy air around seemed answer Ed's question.

Ling forced a smile onto his face "Well, we survived, so there is a possibility that they are still alive, remember they are strong too." The other two stared at him. Hawkeye smiled at him slightly before nodding and walking on with her own thoughts. Ed, however, was not as convinced, he was still too anxious about whether his brother was still alive or not, now he knows that the others are in the same situation and he couldn't keep himself from worrying.

They continued their walk to the city in silence, eventually Hawkeye stopped in front of a decent sized building and the other two looked at her curiously. In front of them was a clothing store.

"We can't keep walking around in our swim suit forever, so we need to buy something." They nodded and walked into the building, they spent a good hour in there before they bought all of the clothing they needed. Ed was worried about the currency that they carried wasn't going to be the right kind, but they accepted it and they were out of there without any problems.

"I know of a place we can stay for the night." Ed spoke up, the other two nodded and followed Ed, who hoped that he was walking in the right direction. Ed glanced into an alley as a trashcan was knocked over, but thought nothing of it and continued on his way. He didn't notice the large auburn eyes glaring at him slightly in the shadows.

They made it to the Pokemon Center around the mid afternoon, and Ed had to keep both Ling and, surprisingly, Hawkeye from freaking out at the large amount of Pokemon running around in the lobby.

"I'll explain all of this." He whispered as he motioned to the creatures behind him "So please don't make a scene." He pleaded to both of them and Ling nodded, not trusting his mouth at the moment. Hawkeye nodded sharply and saluted with a confident "Yes, sir!". Ed sighed and walked off to the room he used last night; he didn't want to attract any attention, but the second Hawkeye saluted him most of the eyes in the room were on the three off them. He had to remember to tell Hawkeye to lay off of the military formalities while they were here.

Once they were in the room the other two rounded on him, demanding for answers. Ed sighed and moved to sit down on the bed, he motion for the others to do so. Once everybody had found a place in the room, Ed began explaining the things he learned from Xera the best he could.

* * *

So, how was it? Good enough to keep you guys from killing me...? Well I hope so, and I hope that I will be updating more often. If your have any question, go ahead and ask. I also feel like putting in an omake after each new chapter from know on too. Hope it isn't too crappy.

**Omake**

Hawkeye, Edward, and Ling were standing in line to buy their clothes.

"So Ed, do you think you could have gotten anymore black?" Ling questioned as he looked over the clothes in Ed's arms. Ed glared at him and jabbed him in the side.

"Shut up." He growled, Ling stuck his tongue out at him before turning away. Hawkeye rolled her eye's at their childish antics and walked over to a register. They placed their clothes onto the counter and the man behind it started to scan them.

"Your total is one hundred and fifty dollars please." Hawkeye began to count out the amount and Ed froze. What if they didn't have the right kind of currency here? There was no way in hell he was going to walk around in a swim suit forever. Well they could always perform on the side of the road for money if it came down to it.

He imagined the three of them dressed up as street performers. Ling was in a clown outfit trying to crack a joke, but was failing considerably. Then some kid asked why his eyes looked so funny and he would got all depressed and scared off all of his viewers.

He pictured Hawkeye dressed up as one of those statue people he's seen in Central Park so many times before, just sitting there and scaring people. He thought that Hawkeye would do a pretty good job doing that, especially if she had her gun, but then again she would probably end up shooting some dog if it decided to do its business on her.

Then he imagined himself on stilts and grinned. He could be tall! Not that he wasn't already, but he could be even taller and not even Mustang could make fun of his height then. But then a chibi Mustang popped into his fantasy and burned the stilts while cracking a short joke. Ed twitched as the Mustang in his mind continued to taunt him. Ling, who was standing next to him, noticed this and moved away from him. Ed was brought back to reality when the cashier squealed, yes squealed.

"Is this money from the long lost city of Xing?" Too stunned, or freaked out, to speak Hawkeye just nodded. "How, did you find all of this?" He screech and leaned across the counter.

"We just found it on the beach." Hawkeye lied smoothly and backed up once she recovered "Will we be able to pay with it?" The man nodded quickly and grabbed up the money.

"Yes, of course. Have a nice day." The three nodded and grabbed their clothes before bolting out of the shop; the last thing they heard was the man muttering "My precious." over and over again, manically before slamming the door shut behind them.

The three of them stood there in the sun before exclaiming "What the hell?"


End file.
